(Bloomberg) -- ION Group is set to complete the acquisition of asset manager Prelios SpA as soon as this week, following months of back-and-forth with Italian authorities on the deal.
The fintech group’s purchase of Prelios for €1.35 billion ($1.5 billion) could be signed already on Thursday, the people added. The closing is a win for London-based ION, a group controlled by Italian businessman Andrea Pignataro, which first bid for the asset management company in 2023.
Spokespeople for ION and for Prelios declined to comment.
Both Giorgia Meloni’s government and the Bank of Italy cleared the deal in recent weeks, allowing it to go ahead in spite of concerns over ION’s high debt levels, Bloomberg previously reported.
For months, Italian authorities have reviewed ION’s growing role in Italy’s financial industry following a string of acquisitions largely funded through leveraged loans.
In recent years, Pignataro’s group has completed the purchase of financial services firms Cedacri SpA and Cerved Group SpA.
ION announced its plan to buy Prelios from Davidson Kempner Capital Management LP last August. The acquisition will be completed through a unit called X3 Group.
Established in 1990, Prelios focuses on alternative asset management and specialized real estate services with more than €40 billion of assets under management across non-performing loans, unlikely-to-pay exposures and real estate funds.
Bloomberg LP, the parent company of Bloomberg News, competes with ION in providing financial software and data.
©2024 Bloomberg L.P.
